Global mobile phone market grows 22 percent in Q1

Framingham: Mobile phone market across the globe has grown 21.7 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal, reveals a study. The global economic recovery and increased demand for smartphones has fuelled this growth.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, mobile phone vendors have shipped 294.9 million units in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 242.4 million units in the first quarter of 2009.

Smartphones have become increasingly popular as a wider and more powerful array of devices have become available. The device class and a recovering traditional mobile phone category helped the market avoid a repeat of 1Q09, when the market declined 16.6 percent in the midst of the global economic recession.

According to IDC, Nokia, Samsung, LG, Research In Motion (RIM) and Sony Ericson are the top five mobile phone vendors. Growing demand for smartphones has helped RIM move into the top 5 vendor rankings. RIM has shipped 10.6 million units in the first quarter while Motorola shipped 8.5 million units.

"The entrance of RIM into the top 5 underscores the sustained smartphone growth trend that is driving the global mobile phone market recovery," said Kevin Restivo, Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, IDC.

"The mobile phone market has rebounded by double digits year over year in a post-holiday quarter is definitely good news for the industry," said Ramo Llamas, Senior Research Analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "Last year we saw much uncertainty around demand and overall reluctance to introduce new devices, vendors have been very vocal about their intentions this year, with some even launching new devices in the first quarter of 2010. In addition, the continued emphasis on converged mobile devices points to greater revenue generation and profitability opportunities for vendors, which is a welcome change compared to the same quarter a year ago," he added.

IDC projects that the worldwide mobile phone market rebound will continue in this year, though not at the same growth rate as the first quarter. According to the report the Asia/Pacific region has started the year off with a strong quarter driven mainly by China.

The Western European mobile phone market continued its rebound from the recession last quarter. The region's growth was driven by strong smartphone shipments compared to a year ago. In U.S. mobile phone market declined sequentially. User interest, however, remained high for smartphones.